The Broken Tables have Turned
by MegFallow
Summary: Alice returns to Rutledges as head nurse but her patient turns out to be none other than Dr. Heironymous Wilson, now she must help him come to terms with his dark childhood past and save his sanity as he did hers from Dark Wonderland. AlicexOC. ON HIATUS!
1. The Man in the Chair

**_Title: The Broken Tables have Turned._**

_**Summary: It has been years since Alice left Rutledges now she returns as a head nurse to save a patient from going over the edge-her old physician Dr. Wilson**_

**_Rating: Contains use of drugs, harsh language, psychological horror, violence, and descriptions of certain child abuse. _**

**_Chapter One-The Man in the Chair_**

The year was 1914, he couldn't believe how long he had been here, it seemed only yesterday that he had gotten the letter from The Superintendent stating that his services were useful for a traumatic child's case. Who would of thought that it would last so long-the needles, the restraints, the acidy drugs being shoved down your throat making you tense up and vomit them out only to be smacked around just for obeying a simple gag reflex; what other nightmares did he witness becoming a doctor to a mere girl's suffering at the firey death of her family, and a dreamscape where only she was the one to come out kicking and screaming and he had to watch like a stunned audience and do nothing about it?

But that was all in the past now

Alice moved on, she changed, she became sane again and then came back to set what was right.

And now HE was the one that was restrained by the leather and belts.

Heiryonous sat in the chair in the middle of a empty padded room. The sweat from his recent exercise involving breaking tables, pushing other inmates, and yelling profanity at the doctors had wore him out and made him hot and uncomfortable. How could it all come out like this, wasn't he a man of a once brillent mind, how could one...misstep be his undoing? Now he was dragged kicking and screaming into the padded room and strapped to a chair bolted to the floor. He was still screaming at the orderlies and nurses that carried him even after they managed to strap him down and proceeded out of the room shutting the heavy metal door behind them.

"No," he muttered,"I am not crazy...it was my father...and my mother...they did this to me, I will make them pay for it I swear!"

Heiryonous strained against the leather strap around his wrists, it burned against his skin roughly and he let out a hiss whenever the rough edges of the strap rubbed into his fleash leaving behind thick-lined lacerations black and purple with bruising. He didn't look at his straps while he struggled. The buckles and the hook through the holes brought back painful memories.

_"Daddy no!" he cried holding his teddy bear,"that hurts!"_

_"SHUT UP AND TAKE IT LIKE A MAN!"_

_**WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!**_

_His mother never coming to his aide as mothers ought to when their young in danger. No, instead she was in The Sunroom, smoking her cigarette and looking into her mirror paying homage to her once beautiful looks that she blamed Heiryonous for ruining when she was pregnant with him. Other times, screaming while he was getting beaten that men wouldn't give her a second glance anymore because she was drawn-out and worn. His arms raised up as a shield feeling every soft patch on him ripping open from the downward thrust of the sharp horse leather underneath his shirt. The wet sensation of blood bleeding right through the cloth as the bruises and blood vessels slit open so fragile and delicate against an all out physical assault by a raving abuser_

_One night while being beaten his cry of "I love you" was drowned out by the wet smacking of belt against body and the hellish shrieking of his mother._

_They were the ones truely insane._

A single tear rolled down his cheek, everytime he saw a belt or a mirror he broke down and sobbed, raving that "Mommy and Daddy don't love me anymore!" wanting to break everything he could get his hands on. The man stopped struggling against the restraints. Just the quick unnoticeable pain that it gave him would remind him of those cuts and bruises that he made up for the headmasters and his friends at school. One story after another whenever they spotted a new one or asked about a certain one. He rolled off tales off the tip of his tongue so wild and enlusive that they either changed the subject or walked away in disbelief-which seemed to be his failsafe to prevent from answering any questions.

Outside, he heard footsteps walking back and forth. Eyes of different shapes and colors looking in at him from the small window on the door, everytime he caught himself looking up at one he avoided his eyes to make sure he didn't look intimidating and sent the orderlies in to beat and torture him as he had been going through in the past seven weeks. They were the ones that spotted his constant phychological fear of mirrors and belts. Mirrors they couldn't carry on their person but belts they had and they seemed to use just to make him compliant. Just one _smack _against the palm and Heiryonous was on his knees crying like a baby and it made the orderlies laugh that a once powerful and strong doctor of Rutledges was now one of the insane-a adled brained, broken, soul-shattered shadow of a sane person losing grip on the only thing that a man can still hold onto when all the chips are down, his mind.

"Alice," he would whisper whenever they were mean to him, "was this the nightmare you went through as well?"

She was here to... but not as anyone insane anymore...Yes...she was a good girl.

Alice came back to Rutledges after attending nursing school and rose up to the ranks of head nurse. As a woman that made a name for herself in this very building it was quite easy to realize how both respected and feared she was. The inmates like how empathic this once lunatic treated them, and she knew every drug and form of treatment suitable for this patient and that because she was there behind that contraption first-hand. Every one came to her for advice and dared not to question her. Even the most chauventistic of male doctors working there held their tongues when Alice challenged them, afraid of making Alice angry.

No one ever wanted to make her angry, no, not again.

The door creaked and the knob turned counterclockwise opening the door to the padded room. A man in his late twenties stepped in with a mane of shaggy blond hair and a red coat underneath his lab jacket holding a clipboard. He was tall, but not as big as some of the meaty orderlies but had enough muscles on his bones to not look like a scarecrow. His face was youthful and expressive always seeming to smile with sparkly eyes of inquisitiveness whenever he walked through the room. The blond doctor stepped in the middle of the doorway as if blocking Heiryonous's entryway on purpose.

"Good morning, Mr. Wilson," he said, _funny how they didn't call him "doctor" as they used to, _"I trust you are feeling a bit more calm than yesterday, that was quite a conondrum we had on our hands, tell me how are you feeling?"

"Who are you?" he asked with a dry voice.

"You sound hungry," replied the man,"I see the deprevation seemed to have calmed you a bit, I hate to see that happen to someone that was once a studious doctor such as yourself, but it wouldn't of been wise to feed you while you were still on your rage, oh my apoligizes, my name is Dr. Virgil Tewdwr, I am to be your doctor."

"A doctor hah!" Heironoyous chuckled,"you're just a little boy dressing up to play 'grow up' you don't look like no doctor to me."

Dr. Tewdwr bit down on his lower lip, this wasn't the first time he had been insulted for being too 'professional' for his seemingly age. When he first arrived the supervisor naturally assumed he was a child genius at the age of seventeen, Virgil did have that younger-looking boyish face, and if it wasn't for his University records to clarify his real age of twenty-five he would of been turned away for being too young. But even then he secretly hated it whenever anyone staffpersons or patients chided him for looking like a "little boy". He pressed the chart against his chest and looked over the one he recognized as Heiroyonous Wilson-the once doctor of Rutledges.

"Despite my appearence what you assume my age is," sighed Dr. Tewdwr,"I am still your doctor and know what I am doing-"

_Yeah I bet you know what you are doing _

"-and maybe together we can get to the root of the problem and help you in any way possible."

Wilson snapped his head up at Dr. Tewdwr,"Help me? 'Help me' what makes you think I need any help from some child playing fucking doctor! I don't need any help, I am a doctor too you know, I used to work here, I treated patients before you were suckling at your mother's teat! Why the hell do you think I need bloody help?!"

"I hate to relay to you the reasons you were brought in here..."

"Just tell me goddammit," Heironyous egged on,"indulge me, tell me what you know, let me be YOUR teacher this time!"

"Mister Wilson," Virgil cleared his throat,"I would refrain from any profanity since there are nurses present-"

"I said INDULGE me you stupid boy!"

Dr. Tewdwr bit his lip more roughly, Head Nurse Liddel would know what to do with this one, he thought wearily, seeing how she knew him. When Alice had first gotten his case file she thought her heart had did triple backflips through her chest. Dr. Wilson. _Her _Dr. Wilson. The smart young man that was there, hanging on to every sordid detail of her travels in Dark Wonderland, working day in and day out to the bone to get each medicine right to set her brain on its track and pull her back from the brink of insanity. Even after so many times she had gone off and assaulted him on more than one occasion even attacking him while he slept. Most would just pack their bags and leave Alice to her mental doom but no not he, he still stayed, grim and determined to remain until she was declared legally sane.

And now he was in the same boat as she was!

While Dr. Tewdwr was being insulted and talked down to by her old friend, Alice was in his office alone; save for a canary trapped inside a silver cage hanging on a hook and pole next to his bookcase singing a beautiful melody. Her head did a double look when she caught Heirnoynous's old photograph of himself back when he was in his thirties. Now older than that with a silver streak of hair here and there. She sat down in the chair and slowly opened the folder reading into his background and profile.

_Name: Heirynonous Quinn Wilson_

_Age: 43_

_Birthplace: Sussex, England_

Alice skipped down to the boring physical detail and read into his background and diagnosis.

_...only child of Mister Ambrose Wilson and his wife Caleigh Norwich-Wilson. Father works for a Insurance Agency high in the firm and his mother tutored French and Latin on the side. Upper milddle-Class. Heirynonyous attended Hawksworth Boys School where the headmaster as well as his teachers and peers began to notice a odd behavior socially and emotionally as well as mysterious cuts and bruises on his face and hands. He also started acting out in class whenever the teacher would appoach him with his rular to answer a question on the board he would scream and run into a corner clawing the wallpaper like a trapped game animal. When contacting his mother about it she made no comment. He also seems reclusive and tends to isolate himself around the boys craving solidarity rather than companionship with those his own age. There seems to be no difference in the sex for even he expresses the same behavior when around the young girls as well._

_On March 15, his father had token his son out of school by his own hands and all contact with the family had ceased..._

It was the same stories she had heard while being a inmate in Rutledges, parents abusing thier children, children scarred from the torments of abuse and anguish, she never recalled being able to relate in a situation such as that. Topics of the sort where unheard of and not spoken openly in public places. She scrolled down Dr. Wilson's past and reached his diagnosis sheet.

...v_iolent outbursts (fortunely not directed at his wife or loved ones), and fits of anti-socialism seem to be how Hierynonous's wife Nyx described it. During a dinner party at a friend's estate, Heirononyous started getting restless, Nyx chalked it up to "boring dinner talk" but then he started getting out of his seat and walking around the empty rooms. Nyx covered by saying that he must of needed use of the toiletries._

_The silence was not uncommon amongst the guests mostly eating and allowing thier stomachs to rest. Hierynonyous had disappeared into the drawing room from what Nyx witnessed and had wandered around in the area for about ten minutes when they heard the sound of breaking glass and a man screaming at the top of his lungs. The host and Nyx as well as a few other men ran into the drawing room to find the carpet littered with broken glass and puddles of blood. On his knees was Hierynonyous Wilson slitting his wrist with a shard of broken glass. As help was called to calm the panic of the other guests. Nyx saw a broken smashed mirror hanging over the wine cabinet and a heavy amount of blood covering the left of Wilson's hand. From what was gathered he had exploded into rage and with his left hand smashed the mirror and proceeded to cut himself with the biggest and sharpest piece of glass he could get ahold of. The crying and screaming was a combination of his mental anguish and the pain caused from his self-inflicting wounds..._

Alice slammed the folder shut already memories of her own self-mutilation were beginning to surface. She shut her eyes and tried to block out the moment she buried that sharp spoon into her wrist drawing a fontain of blood over her hands and onto the floor of her cell. Alice shook her head and pushed the file away from her, getting up she straightened out her long gray dress and beige apron and tucked a piece of her bunned up auburn hair up behind her ear away from her eyes.

Her body was a remarkable change that both men and women noticed around the asylum. Comparing Alice's current form now to that of her anoxetic patient self and for good enough reason. The appearence of her body was properly slender and curvier than being a straight out bean pole. Her face was warmer and healthier looking and her eyes sparkled with life and promise. She figured herself to be about seventeen when she entered Rutledges as a patient but now she returned at twenty-three to administer the same help she wished to give those that were under her distress as she went through. Taking over for Nurse "D" (aka Delilah being her full name) when she retired Alice took the responsiblity of being in charge of almost seventy nurses with honor.

But yet certain places and areas brought up lingering painful memories.

"The year 1903 was when he started cutting himself at that dinner party," she whispered to herself as she made her way to the door,"four years after I was released, how, oh god what has happened to you my dear doctor and friend...?"

She opened the door and walked out into the hallway.

"What...what is happening to you..." she muttered under her breath.

Her boots echoed off the walls as she walked through the halls of Rutledges Asylum doing her rounds as Head Nurse of the Institution.

**TBC**

**_This my first chapter so I hope you all like it so far. Reviews are appeciated but honest useful ones not ones that can be deleted at a moment's notice._**

**_I also toyed with the ages a bit. I imagined Dr. Wilson from the casebook being in his early thirties when he took Alice and I went by the late 1870 years to be precise, so he would be in his fourties by the time Alice was in her twenties as well (the same age as my orginal character Dr. Tewdwr) This is based on part of the casebook as much as I could._**


	2. Recalling Time long ago

**_Title: The Broken Tables have Turned._**

_**Summary: It has been years since Alice left Rutledges now she returns as the head of nursing to save a patient from going over the edge-her old physician Dr. Wilson**_

**_Chapter Two-Recalling Time long ago_**

Alice could hear the sounds of her boots echoing down the corridor weaving through the screams and rampant crying of the mental inmates in Rutledges. Idly putting her hands into the pockets of her apron, she went down the old familiar wards in a daydream fueled by nostaglia. She still would pinch herself every night during rounds thinking it to be a dream or to put it more correctly on her part a hallucination that she could walk around and gain access to every part of the building at her disposal and not be chased down like a escape convict and dragged back to her room fighting off a band of orderlies. It drew a sorrow in her heart that she realized was pity for those that were in the cell rooms screaming and throwing insults at her because their minds were broken and confused with no control over what they were saying or having any knowlege that what they spoke was something they wish they could take back.

If she had a dime for every insult she had to take back while being a patient here she would be richer than the King of England himself.

Alice was finding herself nearing a corner of the corridor hearing a second wind of shoes against the hard plywood floor. Lamps made shadows dance and flicker as a large shadowed outline of a human crawled up the walls with as much ease and skill as a vine snaking up the walls and to the ceiling. She stopped in her tracks watching the stranger's shadow increase in size by the person's closeness and overtake the presence of Alice's own shadow dissolving and swallowing the smaller one until they became whole. The footsteps were matched by the ruffling of a coat and all of a sudden Dr. Tewdwr appeared with his clipboard tucked under his arm.

"Oh Nurse Alice," he said with a start clutching his chest,"you scared me its so dark here and I guess my mind plays tricks on me."

"Oh that is all right," she apoligized with a delicate flick of her hand,"no harm done, this time of the night does get very quiet, by and by what is the prognosis on Dr. Wilson-?"

"Doctor Wilson," he asked couriously, suddenly Virgil's face lit up and he nodded,"Oh yes Heirnonymous Wilson...Well, he seems better today, but still restless, I think tomorrow we will send him back into his cell, his face is very down-hearted and still avoids eye contact with others, but lately throwing insults at me has given him a kick in his step."

Alice tried to resist laughing, ah so it is, she thought, its makes a patient pleasent to put our doctors down; we are such bullies that way, I wouldn't be surprised if he learned a few choice words after dealing with me all that time. She gently bit her bottom lip and the two began walking and talking together down the lonely corridor.

"I read his case file and I trust you did too?" Virgil asked.

"Yes," answered Alice,"just today, I think there may be some hidden turmoil within him due to the relationship he had with his mother and father, the boarding school records were very vague on the subject since Mr. and Mrs. Wilson closed off parental contact with the headmaster but there is evidence of child abuse from what I gather physical but whatever else is there I cannot tell. He was very secretive about his beatings as a child so I doubt that he would reveal anything to us now but I am confident that it could be the stem of his dementia now, we should look into it."

Dr. Tewdwr nodded at the suggestion, "One of the nurses, Holly did mention something about a scar on his left shoulder that looked as if it had been made a long time ago and yet its still taking a long time to heal, it was pretty deep but yet no sign of fresh continous blood flow, this happened when they were giving him a sponge bath, when Nurse Holly tried to take a closer examination she merely touched the tip of it with her finger to measure the width of the wound and apparently it sored him because he screamed and started throwing things at the nurses; picking up the large wash basin and heaving it in their direction-pulling on thier aprons and clawing at thier hair unclothed and wet; he started attacking them at once unabashed and without thought-that...that is why he was confined into the padding room Miss Liddel."

"I see..."

"I made a note to the other nurses including you that the scar is to not be touched unless it becomes infected then he should be taken to a medical hospital under supervision and morphine, also, I have a appointment with his wife regarding his condition I was wondering if...maybe..."

They stopped in front of a pair of double doors leading into the infirmery, Alice turned to face Virgil with her palm resting on the swinging doors.

"Yes?"

Virgil fumbled awkardly with his clipboard almost dropping his pen,"I was wondering if maybe...you would..."

_What is wrong does he want to ask me out on a date? _Alice raised an eyebrow.

"...sit in with me during the appointment, she might feel comfortable around you seeing how you two know each other more than I have and plus you can offer insight into anything that I might miss or overlook, that is, if you are already swamped with other duties?" he got around to requesting.

_Oh, so that is it, I almost thought that-_

"Why of course I would," Alice said cheerfully,"I would of done it anway even if not asked, besides, it would be better that it was me than some other nurse that didn't have any history with either of them, when is the meeting?"

Virgil checked his pocket watch, "around noon, 4:30 I believe, Thursday, so you are sure you are able to attend?"

"Yes, I would."

Alice was about to press the door open when another question caught her by surprise.

"It dosen't it bother you," asked Virgil, "agreeing to take on Mister Wilson's case...knowing that...you two are close friends...I mean...the emotional attachment?"

"What about it Dr. Tewdwr?"

"The fact that you two shared a history, a 'toss of the coin' now so to speak, he was your doctor I heard, and you were one of his patients, he helped you overcome your "Dark Wonderland" pain and have been in touch ever since, I can understand why you are close to him, really I do and now you have to watch him become what you had become is that correct?"

Alice's palm slid down the door feeling the hard smooth wood rub against her skin, she lowered her head, musing over her own bouts of madness behind the walls of this institution, and now for the most part Dr. Tewdwr was right, Heirnonymous Wilson was her doctor, she looked up to him as a friend and a father figure that would protect his little girl and do whatever he could for her well-being no matter what the risk. The father that was taken away from her by that fire and ravaged that beautiful dreamworld she called "Wonderland". He was the only one that knew about the internal battle in her mind and stood there by her side fighting it even if it felt like she was alone in her duel. Outside in her cell she never really was to begin with. He was there. Sitting beside her bed watching the envitable.

But Alice also learned a thing to two in nursing school about holding a patient's hand too much that at times you had to let go of that hand and not let it be the one to wear you down.

"Alice...Miss Liddel?" he repeated her name until her eyes gazed over at him.

"What, oh yes, I was thinking about what you said," she whispered, she then walked towards Virgil looking him up and down standing as tall and erect as a soldier,"yes, its true, I lost my family in a house fire and I drew myself into a dark and foreboding world that I created long ago, a world that you would never live through my dear Virgil, I remember when we first met after I was released he said that he had some doubt in thinking I was going to make through but I still thank him every chance I got for not giving up on me, no matter how much I tormented him even threatened his life with a sharp object I thank God that he sent that man to me in my most frightening hour...yes I know, we are not allowed to become emotionally attached to the patients no matter how long we have known them before they were admitted, but I can't help it, what if Wonderland is getting back at me through him, I wondered what if Wonderland wants to have more of its naughty fun before I die...I don't care I will still help him the way he helped me even if it takes my last breath...I swear it."

Dr. Virgil Tewdwr made no reply at Alice's speech but gave her a slow but silent nod and walked with her through the double doors to the infirmery.

----------------------------------------------

Around seven patients were in the infirmery when Alice and Virgil walked in, a young nurse around seventeen with dark-hair and almond shaped eyes was making one of the beds in the far right side of the wall when she looked up and saw the head nurse and the blond doctor come in. She stood up and smoothed out her apron before making her way towards them. The walls were a pale dull gray that matched the fading black bedsheets on the sickbeds. Three lamps hung from the rafters criss-crossing each other on the cieling casting a eirry glow through the glass and down on the peaked faces of the sick and wounded shading the cycles under thier eyes. The walls were more cleaner than when Alice remembered them. When she came she swept through with a iron fist despatching that sanitation be the top most prioty in the enviroment though it didn't catch on quickly on her first day the rumors flying around that she was the same Alice with the Wonderland sickness that once frequented the patient areas soon caught on to her demands and every grime and filth was scrubbed down until gone.

"Greetings Nurse Alice," the dark-haired nurse curtsied, "and greetings to you Dr. Tewdwr, all the beds are turned down as you wished."

"Thank you Nurse Cordelia," Alice smiled,"go and assist Dr. Athia with his tests won't you?"

"Yes miss." Nurse Cordelia walked past them giving Dr. Tewdwr a flirtatious sidelong glance before slidding through the double doors and on her way.

"I see you have another admirer Dr. Tewdwr," Alice chuckled placing her hands over her smirking mouth, "now do you believe me when I told you that the nurses like you?"

A blush filled Dr. Tewdwr's cheeks as he looked away from Alice, escaping from her playful jest by going over to examine one of the nearby sick patients violently hacking. The minute he took out his stephoscope and stood a good distance from her Alice started to finally see why all the young nurses liked him. He was very attractive looking, with a angelic quality that would make any woman lost in the gaze of his soft blue eyes and warm smile. When he moved around the bed gracefully he sauntered around like a courious cat observing any abnormally out of place on the human body confidently and purposefully, his blushing cheeks faded when he observed the hacking patient gesturing Alice to aide him.

"He has been coughing up phlem for some time Nurse Alice," he said seriously, "pass me the emesis basin, mister Howard, if you can may you please lay on your side towards me and try to cough into this basin-thank you Alice."

The man wheezed heavily, "Cannot...arm sore...please help?"

Dr. Tewdwr looked the sick man over and told Alice that he was to roll on her side, since the arm on Virgil's side was the sore arm, Alice nodded and took the hacking man's right arm and placed it over his head on the pillow as Dr. Tewdwr carefully took the sore arm in place and at the count of three rolled the man over on Alice's side. The muscles that were hidden under the layers of his white lab coat became taunt and rippled as he exerted his strength to roll the 190 pound man over to face Alice with the emesis basin. Alice thought of the times when she assisted Virgil in surgery and how agile and finesse he was in sewing up open wounds and skillfully managing every surgical tool at his disposable with his nimble fingers that moved with so much unbiased accuracy that she would catch some of the nurses that were in there with her trying not to fluster.

Sometimes behind closed doors when they didn't think she was listening in, Alice could hear some of the nurses under her watch whisper about how his endurance in surgery would be better matched in thier bedrooms, that was when she would scare them by opening the door and watching them flutter like little sparrows seeing the house cat, the way they scattered and became quiet almost was like a game to her.

The basin was nestled underneath the man's open mouth as he coughed loudly once again letting lose a thick puddle of blacken liquid that stuck to the bottom of the metal basin like tar, black and sticky. It looked like the oil that bled from The Mad Hatter when she engaged in a battle with him in his ClockTower back in Wonderland.

Once Mister Howard was laying on his back and his neck prompt up once again, Alice and Dr. Tewdwr went to the end of the infirmery where the samples that were taken from the patients were studied for ailments. It was a small room that connected to the large sick bed room and whereas it was as clean as the infirmery it still held the same drab bleak wall colors that the sick room held with only one lantern hanging on the wall that casted its aura on both the nurse and the doctor. Alice placed the sample on the lab table as Virgil looked through his medical books to match the appearence of the phlem they had on them with that of the pictures.

_Oh god I can't believe I thought he was going to ask me on a date, _Alice groaned mentally to herself, _how could I ever think of that he is my friend, let the other nurses flirt and court him I have no time to dally with romance...! How embarassing!_

"What do you make of this Nurse Alice?" Dr. Tewdwr asked.

"It...looks like oil?" She whispered still relieving that furious battle with a old friendly foe.

_The porcelin shattered on the cement ground of the battle arena as Alice dove in with her knife cutting the blade through his trousers and scratching the skin until black liquid bled out of his wound spilling around his feet like a halo. Alice looked down at her knife to examine the black blood that dripped from the tip of her vorpal blade and onto her dress. She ran her finger through the thick stiky liquid wondering why it was not congealing like the red liquid that she always made her victims shed._

"Oil?" he asked strangely,"that is silly...the man is not a machine..."

_She rubbed the black blood against her finger tips it was slick and smelled of warm tar it was hot like blood but it was not blood...it was oil..._

_The Mad Hatter's blood had become oil..._

"Alice?" Virgil repeated her name again.

She snapped her head up,"What is it Doctor?"

"Alice, Nurse Alice," he cleared his throat,"are you okay, you just said that it looked like oil, I think he has some sort of respiratory infection."

Alice wiped the tarry phlem off her fingers with a hankerchief, how did it get on her finger just now, maybe her own fingers just were hanging a little bit too far inside the basin maybe, or she was so busy remembering her encounter with The Mad Hatter she had thought she was there again with the oily blood on her fingers realizing that he was more of a machine monster than a old tea party pal and had to die.

"That looks like it," Alice sighed trying to act more like her nursely self, "if it is a respiratory infection how serious is it?"

"By the color and texture I would have to say very serious," answered Virgil, "his lungs are full and making it hard for him to breath tell your nurses to moniter him closely."

"Yes doctor." Alice said making her way out of the lab.

She heard Dr. Tewdwr follow her out through the infirmery.

"Where are you going Nurse Alice?" asked Dr. Tewdwr.

Alice reached the door, "I need to check something Dr. Tewdwr, don't worry just send for me if you are in need of something."

Alice opened the door and left the infirmery.

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It was midnight judging by the rings of the grandfather clock that Alice passed by down the hall away from the infirmery, she rubbed her head trying to think straight despite her fatigue moods and the vague flashbacks she was recieving all of a sudden. The moment she re-entered Rutledges not as a patient she was not only greeted with a wave of nostalgia but of the same creeping dread filling her stomach with doubt and worry. What if she was to become her old 'self' again, she wondered fretfully, what if she had a nervous breakdown while doing her rounds and ended up on the other side of the cell door once more...

Could she really handle it like she did before?

"Stop thinking such nonsence," she scolded herself, "listen to yourself, just like when you were a child not even heeding your own advice, how unfitting is that for a sensible person when they must be scolded by themselves for something they warn themselves about-oh bolluck, here I am talking to myself again, I might as well be back down that rabbit hole and-"

**_clank...clank...clank..._**

That was when she heard it, the sound was not coming from the swaying pendulum of the large clock, but of the sound of a sharp metal point hitting the floorboards behind her. The unmistakable tapping of a walking cane moving towards her. Followed by a heavy slow breathing that made her shudder quietly; recalling the noise she became familiar with when she was about to go into battle with the crazed Mad Hatter and how she always managed to hear his walking cane hitting the cement ground of the arena, ready until she was at that right angle, and then brought the object down with a whoosh onto her skull. Alice instinctively grabbed onto her apron which she did to take out a weapon but she was unarmed and cursed under her breath as the heavy breathing became dense and the tapping got louder.

Now she wished that...

"Miss Liddel?" The heavy breathing and the tapping suddenly stopped.

A grizzled old voice questioned her name from behind her, she turned around and saw a tall, lanky, decrepit old man with white hair around the sides of his face wearing specticles. He flashed her a old smile and stepped towards her again making the sound that she heard earlier to her embarassment it was none other than Superintendent Cree who had been there when she was confined as a inmate, now he stood before her proudly and kindly, acknowleging the kind of woman she had become. He always bragged about his 'success story' still trying to pursay others that Rutledges was not as bad off as Bedlam Asylum or some of the other places that were getting such scutiny from the Humanity social society. He tucked a free hand behind his back and rested his weight onto his cane as he addressed the young woman.

"Well hello there Miss Liddel," he said warmly as a grandfather would speak, noting a bit of pallor in her face,"you alright, it looks as if you have seen a ghost my dear, did you?"

Alice looked away,"No sir, I just I saw a rat or something, either way the hours have tired me, that must be it, nothing is wrong sir."

She noticed that when he moved again, Superintendent Cree walked with a slight limp in his right step, she saw it didn't bother him for some reason as he walked past her. Alice gently took his arm and asked to escourt him to his automobile. Superintendent Cree was hesitant at first, not wanting to waste Alice's time but she insisted until he finaly gave in and wrapped his arm around her own arm as she led him down the stairs to the main door.

"I must say Alice," he remarked,"you have come a long way my dear, even in size, you were such a beanstalk when I first saw you, and now you are as healthy as a horse if you don't mind me saying so."

"No, of course not, thank you Superintendent Cree."

"I know its a bit late for visiting hours, but I wanted to pay my respects to Heiryonmous before I left, but he was well-out of it-so to speak."

"He was in his cell?"

"Yes I am afraid so," replied The Superintendent,"it still bothers me how he could of ended up like this, but if anyone can straighten him out its you Alice, you two became such good friends it seemed, and forgive me for saying but it would be best that he was helped by someone with...well, past experience...in these manners, someone that was more indepth with this affliction than someone who only studied it in books."

_He wants to say 'because I was crazy too' that is what he is talking about why dosen't he just say it instead of beating around the bush?_

They started descending the stairway gradually,"I thank you for your faith in me Mister Cree," sighed Alice,"but I am only a nurse, Dr. Tewdwr is coming along very well for this being his first case since coming here, by and by I heard about your granddaughter Amethyst, congragulations on her coming out when is the ball?"

"Um, let me think," pondered Cree,"ah yes, two days from now, I came by to invite you and a guest to see her, I told her so much about you and she is absolutely fascinated; dying to see you, please say you will come Alice Liddel?"

Alice bit her lip by the time they reached the bottom of the stairway and made it to the main entrance of the institution, she hated it when they spoke of her as some sort of hero or trophy to brag about. She had fought Wonderland and won her sanity that was all, and she wanted to keep it that way, but the idea of a near lost cause making it out alive and mentally intact and then rising to the ranks of high nurse at such a young age intrigued everyone in London to no end espically when gossip came around that she was turning to the same building that she was confined in so long ago to become head nurse. As if politics and scandals wouldn't enough entertainment for them.

However, her train of thought was disturbed when Cree mentioned that Mrs. Nyx Wilson was going to go as well and wish Amethyst luck, it would certainly be a good chance to discuss with her what plagued her husband. That is if she was in the mood to discuss it amongst social crowds at a debuntante ball, but there was only one way to find out, so Alice halted to a stop in front of the door and turned to Superintendent Cree politely smiling.

"As honored as I am, I cannot answer you now," she explained,"but I will respond ASAP and by then I will have time to catch up on work, get a nice dress, and perhaps find myself a guest if possible."

She saw the man pull back his dry cracked lips into a toothfilled smile. His enamel looked worn down and yellow from age as well as a few gaps along the front but Alice pretending not to notice as to not be rude. He let out a hissing chuckle and patted her shoulder.

"Very well then," he said happily,"I will await your invite response, and tell Dr. Tewdwr he shall come to, its about time that everyone met the young boy."

Alice nodded courtly and fetched Superintendent Cree his hat and coat and watched him leave down the cobblestone path into his automobile. The moths danced around the lamp posts lined up like tall metallic toy soldiers keeping viligent watch over passerbys lighting the way to make sure they could reach the front door of Rutledges without getting lost in the dark. Within the darkened enviroment only the pathway was luminated not even the windows of the building were lit up. Half the staff were winding down and one by one lamps and candles were being put out for the night. Alice wrapped her arms around herself to keep off the chill outdoors and pulled herself back inside.

"Dr. Tewdwr," she thought lazily,"does he expect met to bring him as my guest?"

The steps began to creak and she saw Virgil coming downstairs wearing only his red coat instead of his labcoat which was hanging neatly on the coat rack in his office. He was finished for the night and was ready to sign out and head home to his flat. He looked up and saw Alice once he wrote his exit time in the green book laying opened on the receptionist's desk near the door.

"Are you leaving too Alice," he asked,"its pretty late out how about I give you a ride to your place?"

"Are you sure I don't want to inconvince you doctor." she protested.

"Not at all," he urged,"I insist, half of the staff have gone home and no one will see us leave together, and besides, its too dangerous for a young lady to walk home unescourted on a dark night in the streets of London, what do you say?"

Alice was sure that she wouldn't mind walking home by herself, god knows she had traveled around alone in worst places than dank alleyways and encountered far worse vicious scoundrals than muggers, pickpockets, and thieves. However, there was no one around to notice them leave together and what harm would it do after all, it wasn't as if he was arranged or anything of that sort. She removed her stiff white nurse's hat and nodded.

"Thank you Dr. Tewdwr," she said,"I appeciate that."

As Alice was helped into Dr. Tewdwr's vechicle, up in the third floor of the asylum, Heirnonymous laid in his bed staring up at the cracked bland white ceiling counting the tiles to help him fall asleep. The blankets felt soft and pillowy around his body and he dug his fingers into the firm mattress of his bed. Five minutes past by until he felt his eyelids drop over his sight and sleep was winning out in the end. Just as his eyes full shut, he heard a harsh sounding hiss of a angry cat coming from somewhere in his room.

"What is it," he lifted his head up scanning around with alert eyes trying to spot the distressed feline,"who is there?"

Only silence answered him, he pulled the sheets up closer to his face and laid back down on the pillow, trying to relax and count the tiles on the cieling again.

"Four...Five...six...seven...eight."

A resilient feral growl broke out slowly, coming from a corner of his room shrouded in darkness. The sound made him think of a cat that was cornered by a pack of angry dogs and growled to threaten thier lives if they ever thought of touching the trapped feline. As far as he knew, the doors were locked and the windows bolted with bars on them to prevent him from escaping, so how could any creature come into his room without unlocking the door?

"Hello...?" his voice came out as a intimidated squeak.

Movement, he thought he saw the bulky dark outline of something shifting around in the corner, turning to face him. Cold sweat poured down the ex-doctor's face as a pair of yellow sickly eyes stared out at him from the shadows and then as gradually as stars leaving the night sky they disappeared. Heirynonmous felt his body tremble under the thick layers of blankets trying to forget what had happened afraid to close his eyes fearing that the creature could still be there in that corner just waiting for him to doze off and...and...what, what would it do to him? Claw his eyes out? Scratch his jugular? Tear his throat out?

"Alice," he whispered soundly,"please, please help me..."

**_TBC_**

**_I hope you enjoyed the second chapter and there will be more to come when I can. I wanted to convey that although Alice is still cured from her insanity there are still a few repressed memories lingering around, and before you think that its the Cheshire Cat I advice that you look before you leap, he could be hallucinating, but it is still fun to judge isn't it?_**


End file.
